Update on Venezuela's Constitutional Crisis: What Just Happened?

To understand Venezuela's constitutional crisis in 2016, you gotta go back to key events in 1999 and 2004.

Venezuela's judiciary held the legislature in contempt of court, then took it back the next day. A timeline:

In recent days, Venezuela witnessed an institutional showdown between the newly controlled opposition legislature and the judiciary, the latter of which openly sides with the ruling party and the executive branch. At issue was whether a handful of legislators from the rural state of Amazonas would be allowed to take their oaths of office. While, as of January 14, the two branches have stepped back from their standoff, much remains to be seen under Venezuela’s new distribution of power. Below, we chart the major developments, as well as some important antecedents to the crisis.

December 15, 1999 – Venezuela institutes a new Constitution, which creates a Supreme Tribunal (TSJ), replacing the old Supreme Court. The new court includes six sub-chambers, in addition to the full chamber with all of the court’s 32 justices.

December 6, 2015 – Venezuela holds legislative elections in which the opposition coalition grabs a majority. However, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) only releases partial results that night. Electoral results, touted by the government for the efficiency of its electoral voting machines, are considered “irreversible” under Venezuelan electoral law.

December 8, 2015 – Venezuela’s CNE affirms the 112-seat opposition victory, granting the opposition a supermajority in the 167-deputy chamber. This is the first time the chavista government has not controlled a branch of government since Hugo Chávez first came to power in 1999.

December 30, 2015 – The Electoral Chamber of the TSJ upholds an injunction against the elections of four deputies from the state of Amazonas—three from the opposition and one from the governing party—after a member of the ruling party files allegations of electoral fraud. The ruling bars the deputies from taking their oaths of office and puts the opposition’s supermajority into question.

January 6, 2016 – New Speaker Henry Ramos Allup ignores the TSJ injunction and swears in the three barred opposition deputies. The fourth barred deputy, from the government’s socialist party, was not present.

January 11, 2016 – The TSJ declares the National Assembly is in contempt of court for swearing in the three deputies in question and rules that all the legislature’s actions are null and void as long as the deputies are seated.